APC tackles Atiku over late signing of peace pact

FORMER Vice President and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in next year’s election Atiku Abubakar has displayed he was not committed to a peaceful conduct of the polls by failing to show up at the signing of the peace accord in Abuja on Tuesday, the All Progressives Congress (APC) said yesterday.

The party said Atiku’s decision to “finally and reluctantly” sign the pact yesterday was a face-saving measure.

APC’s National Public Secretary Lanre Issa-Oniru said in a statement that Atiku’s initial refusal was a clear reminder of the threat of the party in August to deploy all means possible to win the 2019 elections, pointing out that the claim of communication gap as his reason for not appearing for signing ceremony on Tuesday was “hogwash”.

The statement reads: “It is obvious that the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar tried to avoid signing the national peace accord ahead of the country’s 2019 general elections.

“To all discerning Nigerians, the PDP and Atiku’s claim of a “communication lapse” as reason for their no-show at Tuesday’s formal signing ceremony is hogwash, as the peace committee duly and formally invited the PDP and Atiku, like other candidates and political parties contesting the 2019 Elections.

“Atiku’s eventual decision to sign the peace deal is clearly a face-saving move following widespread condemnation that greeted his initial refusal to agree to the peace deal. We, however, must not lose sight of the dangerous and ominous signs the PDP and Atiku have inadvertently shown Nigerians in the lead up to the elections.

“Again, this brings to the fore, PDP’s open declaration in August this year that the party will deploy all ‘means, schemes, shenanigans in all ramification and magnitude’ to manipulate the 2019 election.”

The APC reiterates that security and other relevant agencies must be on the high alert to check this dangerous threat posed by the PDP’s planned actions for the general elections.

It went on: “In 2019 and beyond, the votes of the electorate must count and the will of the electorate must prevail. We must stand against and resist plans by retrogressive elements, now nested in the PDP and their agents to disrupt elections through violence and other undemocratic practices.

“For signing the 2019 election national peace accord, the party affirms the commitment of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led APC government to a free and fair electoral process.  The APC government has an abiding pledge towards participatory, peaceful, credible and transparent elections.”

The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has condemned the  House of Representatives Speaker of Yakubu Dogara, for calling  the Social Investment Programme (SIP) a vote-buying scheme.

The organisation said the comment was not only irresponsible, but an insult to beneficiaries of the initiative.

In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the BMO said it was unfortunate and shocking that Dogara could descend so low just to score political points.

The statement reads: “Here is a man, who presides over an arm of the National Assembly which approved a budgetary allocation of N500 billion for 2016 and N400 billion for 2017 respectively, for this same social welfare scheme.

“Speaker Dogara and his colleagues in the Senate are also aware that all the initiatives, including the very popular TraderMoni, began in 2016 after a total sum of N110bn was released.

“Cash disbursement was done throughout the previous years and it is on record that the National Assembly was even keen on monitoring compliance of the SIPs